Samsung Foundry is working to overcome years of low productivity to regain what it lost to TSMC.
According to a recent report, the world's leading foundry TSMC may lose part of its 2nm business to Samsung . This is considered an important step for Samsung, especially after the company suffered a huge loss when Qualcomm shifted the production of Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chips to TSMC due to Samsung Foundry's low productivity.
Taking a portion of 2nm chip customers from TSMC is a success for Samsung Foundry.
A foundry's yield is measured by the percentage of usable chips from a silicon wafer. Typically, a yield of 70% is considered acceptable for mass production. However, TSMC has only achieved a yield of 60% in its 2nm trials. Nvidia and Qualcomm are now considering switching to Samsung Foundry, especially since TSMC is expected to increase chip prices by 5% to 10% this year, along with a 50% increase in 2nm silicon wafer prices, reaching $30,000.
While switching to a low-yield foundry like Samsung could increase manufacturing costs due to the need for more wafers, TSMC's limited capacity could be the deciding factor. Apple, TSMC's largest customer, is said to have retained much of the company's original 2nm capacity.
However, TSMC still has an important "regular" customer, Apple.
TSMC currently has a 64.9% global market share in the semiconductor foundry sector and plans to ramp up its 2nm capacity to 80,000 wafers per month by 2026. While it was reported that Apple would use the 2nm process for the A19 and A19 Pro chips in the iPhone 17 series, it now appears that the company will manufacture these chips using TSMC's third-generation 3nm (N3P) process. This may be due to the higher costs that led Apple to decide to wait for the A20 and A20 Pro chips in 2026.
According to South Korea's Chosun Daily, attracting new business to the 2nm process could be Samsung Foundry's last chance to stay afloat as the company faces billions of dollars in losses and is far behind TSMC in market share. Samsung is looking to stem the losses.
